THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
The Joint Committee on
Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review
Report # 360
A Review of Tunica County School District's
Administrative and Instructional Spending
July 8, 1997
Introduction
For eight of the past nine years, the Tunica County School District has been one of a small number of districts (16 of 153 districts in the state in 1996-97) assigned the lowest possible accreditation rating by the State Board of Education. In February 1997, the board upheld a decision by the Commission on School Accreditation to withdraw the district's accreditation because the district failed to meet academic performance standards. During most of its history, the district has been economically disadvantaged, with a high percentage of its students living in low-income families. Also, the district's tax base historically has been among the state's lowest.
In 1993 an influx of tax revenue from gaming and related development began swelling the district's local tax collections. By school year 1996-97, the district was collecting more than five times the local revenues it had received five years earlier ($5,654,421 in 1996-97 compared to $1,063,166 in 1991-92).
PEER reviewed Tunica County School District's allocation of funds between categories of expenditure to determine the extent to which the district has used it financial resources to reach the classroom and whether the district's administrative and support expenditures are excessive.
Overview
While its local revenues have increased, the district continues to serve a high proportion of low-income, low-achieving students. Thus, the district has had a unique opportunity to direct its increasing resources toward improving student achievement through its windfall of new revenue. However, the district's lack of a long-term financial plan to prioritize its assessed needs and its lack of comprehensive spending policies have reduced its effectiveness in doing so.
Although the district has established a need for placing greater emphasis on instruction than other areas of expenditure, the district has directed a smaller percentage of its resources toward instruction than has the average district in the state. The district has not consistently directed its spending toward its most significant needs, as demonstrated by the following actions:
The district's failure to direct resources consistently to areas of high priority has resulted in certain non-instructional expenditures which were imprudent, wasteful, or not authorized by law. Also, the district's board has not required full documentation of teachers' plans for purchasing classroom supplies and instructional material and equipment provided by the Education Enhancement Fund, and therefore cannot assure that all expenditures were made in accordance with statutes.
PEER also found that the hiring of the Tunica County School District Superintendent's wife as a district-level administrator may constitute a violation of conflict of interest laws.
Summary of Recommendations
(See page 28 of the report for detailed recommendations.)
In the following recommendations, references to the district include the Tunica County School Board and Superintendent acting in conjunction with the Conservator.
1. The Tunica County School Board and Superintendent, in conjunction with the Conservator, should develop a long-term financial plan (to be included as part of its overall long-term plan) for the district's use in meeting its goal of improved student performance. As part of the plan, district officials should project revenues and develop goals and budgets for use of the funds.
The district's board should adjust goals and budgets at least yearly as revenues and other estimates and situations change. The district's board should tie the financial goals and budgets directly to the district's needs in areas such as student performance, curriculum, training, and facilities.
2. The board and Superintendent should review annually the district's five-year spending patterns.
3. The board and Superintendent should compare, at least semiannually, the district's student achievement statistics to those of other districts in the state, especially those with similar demographics and enrollment.
4. The district should revise, at least annually, the financial component of its technology plan.
5. The district's board and Superintendent should review existing research on the effectiveness of reducing class size and on other potentially effective uses of resources to improve student achievement. In developing priorities for its overall and financial long-term plans, the district should determine how reducing class sizes and other educational innovations could help the district meet its performance goals.
6. The district should develop a plan to study its teacher levels systematically, determine its optimum level of teachers, and address how deficiencies can be improved through its budget.
7. The district should continue to review and adjust salary levels (especially in areas which have no direct effect on student performance) so that they will be more comparable to average salaries of districts in Mississippi. To help maintain salaries at fair levels, the district should annually compare its salaries with salary levels of other school districts in the state and with any data available on salaries paid in the area's relevant labor markets.
8. When in doubt about whether proposed expenditures are appropriate and authorized by law, the Tunica County School District's staff should request advice from the Department of Audit. The board attorney should consult with Department of Audit and State Department of Education personnel regarding various types of school district expenditures which have been held to be unlawful in the past, review all Attorney General opinions on this matter, and advise the district board and officials accordingly.
9. The superintendent should comply with MISS. CODE ANN. Section 37-9-14 (3) for general duties of district superintendents, which requires that itemized invoices support all expenditures.
10. The Department of Audit should review wasteful or unauthorized expenditures cited in this report to determine if any funds should be recovered.
11. The district should enact policies regarding effective contractual services procurement procedures. The policy should outline types of services which are exempt, such as sole source purchases or services under a certain dollar amount.
12. The district's board and Superintendent should execute a contract and develop a job description for the school district's attorney, outlining the exact duties required in return for compensation. In determining compensation, the district should compare the board attorney's salary and duties to salaries and duties of attorneys in Tunica County and in other school districts in the state.
13. The board and Superintendent should not approve consulting contracts to employees who have been terminated due to their refusal or inability to meet employment contract provisions. When employees are terminated due to breach of provisions in their employment contracts, the district should not provide compensation beyond the last day of employment.
14. The district should develop and consistently follow policies regarding liability insurance which outline what its liability insurance is expected to cover and the types of liability claims the district will pay out-of-pocket; require that district liability must be established before paying claims; and specify how claimants must establish district liability in order to receive reimbursement.
15. The district should consult with the director of the Tort Claims Board on developing policies for insurance and request advice on achieving efficiency in purchase and use of insurance, filing claims with insurance companies, avoiding lawsuits, prepaying claims, and understanding the types of coverages already purchased.
16. The district should determine whether it can be reimbursed by its insurance company on claims which it has already paid out-of-pocket which could be covered under its policy.
17. The board and Superintendent should not reimburse entertainment expenses from public funds. When the district has questions regarding whether a certain expense should be categorized as entertainment, the district should consider whether the primary purpose of the expenditure is for the education of students or is approvable staff training according to SDE guidelines. Entertainment which has the purpose of motivation for staff rather than SDE-approved training (such as appreciation dinners) should be funded from private sources.
18. The district should adopt policies for purchasing classroom supplies and instructional material and equipment provided by the Education Enhancement Fund. These policies should address the legislation effective July 1, 1997, amending CODE Section 37-61-33, which prohibits using classroom supplies appropriations for administrative purposes and requires allocation of funds equally among all classroom teachers.
The district should require that school spending plans be approved and filed with the business office before pooled expenditures (not under direct control of the teacher) are made. Principals or teachers should file any changes in spending plans with the business office during the school year. The policies should require the business office to verify requests for funds against the most recently filed school plans.
19. The board and Superintendent should review all of the sections of the unabridged November 1994 Siamon Study regarding policy formulation and "undertake a renewed approach and interest in policy development and adoption," as recommended in the study. The board should consider the policies suggested in the Siamon Study.
20. In addition to developing new policies, the Superintendent and board should thoroughly review and revise the district's policies yearly and consistently follow those policies.
21. The Ethics Commission should review the circumstances of the district's hiring of the Tunica County Superintendent's wife from school years 1993-94 to 1996-97.
22. The Superintendent and district school board should comply with conflict of interest statutes when hiring employees, such as CODE sections 37-9-17 and 25-4-105 (1). When in doubt, the board should ask for an opinion from the Mississippi Ethics Commission.
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